Bin your turkey fat and help keep the region’s pipes clear this Christmas

Anglian Water news.

Published:12:00Thursday 24 December 2015

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Anglian Water is urging Christmas cooks not to let turkey fat escape down the plughole this festive season.

This year staff have been busy clearing thousands of blockages from the region’s pipes. There are more than 30,000 blockages a year in East Anglia - 80% of which are caused by wipes and fats. This adds £15million a year on to customers’ bills.

But the Keep It Clear campaign team have also been busy spreading the message in schools, at community events, in the media and on Twitter and Facebook.

Rachel Dyson, Keep It Clear campaign manager at Anglian Water, said: “An average cooked turkey produces ¾ of a pint of fat. Turkey and goose fat is fantastic for crisping up those roast potatoes on Christmas Day, but if it gets poured down the sink it can cause a major headache.

“Around 20,000 tonnes of fats and oils find their way into our region’s sewers each year and they cause thousands of blockages. Blockages lead to sewage spills and if this happens on your property the repair bill will be one Christmas delivery you don’t want.

“Our advice to anyone cooking Christmas dinner is to let the fat cool and then scrape it into your bin, or use some newspaper to scoop it up and put in your food caddy or composter. You’ll be saving yourself a lot of inconvenience as well as protecting your homes and the local environment from nasty sewage spills.”